In theory, Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka gets it. The closer a player gets to free agency, the lower his trade value. If you’re moving a major piece from your roster, better to do it when you have two postseasons to offer the acquiring team in order to drive up the return.

His predecessor, Don Maloney, did quite well in the Keith Yandle trade utilizing that strategy.

But Chayka is not running the Coyotes in theory. He’s running them in reality.

“When you’re talking about superstar players, it’s a great intellectual discussion,” Chayka told The Athletic. “I’m not sure it’s ever been played out.”

And he’s not looking to become the test case, either.

So much talk in recent weeks has surrounded two of the potential unrestricted free agent star defensemen in the Class of 2019 — Drew Doughty and Erik Karlsson. Meanwhile, the expectation in hockey is that if a star defenseman is going to hit unrestricted free agency in...